first brew pretty sweet and malty

halister · 01-29-2012, 12:25 PM

Hi first brew ever, I did an octoberfest I hit all my readings within .001 1 week in main and 2 weeks in secondary Carboy all at room temp all went perfect then bottled after 3 days of constant reading. Bottled now on 3 weeks one week at room temp 2 weeks in basement at 60.
I'm getting a pretty sweet Malty taste and decent carb? Normal just not long enough in bottle?

idigg · 01-29-2012, 12:34 PM

You should have had 3 weeks in bottle at room temp. Also octoberfest is a very malty beer!

**BrewMU** · 01-29-2012, 12:41 PM

Octoberfest is a lager, and would ordinarily be cold-stored for weeks or months - it's called Marzen, March, because it was traditionally brewed in March and cellared until Fall. You would probably be better off leaving it in the carboy a little longer.
But, hey, if it tastes good, so be it - congratulations. You might want to brew a couple of ales next - they come out of the pipeline a little faster.

**MuchoGusto** · 01-29-2012, 12:48 PM

Brewing a lager at room temps will produce a beer... a beer that I probably wouldn't want to drink. I would suggest you are trying to make chicken salad out of chicken siht.

Is this a kit you brewed from?

halister · 01-29-2012, 01:29 PM

Yeah it called for it. It's not bad tasting it's on the sweeter side. So I should stuff them in the fridge? I have the bottles in the basement right now? Think it will get better?

**NordeastBrewer77** · 01-29-2012, 03:32 PM

i'm guessing it was one of the oktoberfest kits that's brewed with ale yeast. the reason it may be sweet is there's still priming sugar left to ferment. 60 degrees is cool for bottle conditioning, and it's would most likely take over a month to condition at those temps. leave them a MINIMUM of 3 weeks at 70 degrees to condition.

halister · 01-29-2012, 03:38 PM

It was a lager yeast Buthelezi it was a kit, I'll grab them and bring them into room temp for a couple of weeks see what they do.

**unionrdr** · 01-29-2012, 04:52 PM

Also,1 week in primary is def a little short. 1 week in bottles at 70F or so,then going cold is another mistake. You need at least 3 weeks around 70F to carb well. Storing in a 60F basement would be ok,but not for carbing/conditioning. Def too cold.

halister · 01-29-2012, 05:32 PM

Ok then I pretty much did it backwards. I swear those kit makers tell you that just to get you back in sooner... Uugg

**unionrdr** · 01-29-2012, 05:37 PM

That's the concencuss that most of us came to in regard to kit instruction time tables. We leave it in primary till a stable FG is reached,however long that takes. Then give it about a week to clean up & settle out more till clear or nearly so. Then 3 weeks+ in bottles at 70F to condition. At least one week,preferably 2 weeks in the fridge for thicker head & longer lasting carbonation.